When I told my husband that my favorite
stone was an emerald and that I wanted one
for our first wedding anniversary, he
suggested we fly down to Colombia to select
a stone. I had been to Colombia before
with my brother during a college vacation.
But since Avianca was running a special, we
decided on the spur of the moment, to go for
a five-day hiatus.
Colombia has many verdant
mountains in the Andes, and is the only
South American country with coastlines on
both the North Pacific Ocean and Caribbean
Sea. Its highlands are subject to volcanic
eruptions, occasional earthquakes and
periodic droughts, yet the scenery is
magnificent. They currently are
enduring environmental issues such as
deforestation and soil and water damage due
to overuse of pesticides. The air
pollution in Bogotá from vehicle emissions
was unbreathable. I couldn't wait to get out
of the capital and drive south into the
fresh air of the countryside.
President Uribe faces ongoing economic
problems ranging from reforming their
pension system to reducing high
unemployment. A forty-year insurgent
campaign to overthrow the Colombian
government escalated during the 1990s in
part funded from the drug trade.
Although the violence is bad and the
countryside is under guerilla influence, the
movement lacks the military strength or
popular support necessary to overthrow their
government. Colombia has about 60
formally recognized political parties, most
of which do not have a presence in either
house of Congress. Colombia is replete
with organized illegal narcotics, guerilla,
and paramilitary activities which penetrate
the borders of its neighbors creating a
serious refugee crisis with over 300,000
persons fleeing the country. Their
legal system is based on Spanish law but a
new criminal code, modeled after the US
Procedures, was enacted in 2004.
We
visited the Museo del Oro in Bogotá, with
hundreds of gold Indian artifacts hewn into
interesting pieces of jewelry, then
headed to an orchid farm with the most
beautiful orchids I have ever seen of every
color imaginable. Later, we drove
further south to the steaming hot desert
of Tierra Caliente where I bought some
pre-Colombian mud dolls for my collection.
Before leaving Colombia I searched for my
emerald. While in a shop trying on a fabulous
ring, I had a strange feeling that I was
being watched. As I happened to glance
up at the ceiling there was an M-16 pointed
down at my nose! I told the clerk, in
Spanish, that it made me very nervous to try
on necklaces and bracelets worth thousands
of dollars with a gun pointed at me; that it
somehow took away the fun of shopping.
She explained that the security was not for
their "clientes" (clients) but for
the "ladrones" (thieves.) Quickly
I bought three items with small emeralds in
them and was happy to leave the store before
he sneezed.
Colombia's economy has been on a recovery
trend during the past two years despite a
serious armed conflict. Their economy
continues to improve thanks to austere
government budgets, focused efforts to
reduce public debt levels, and an
export-oriented growth focus. Coffee
prices have recovered from previous lows as
the Columbian coffee industry pursues
greater market shares in developed countries
such as the USA. They also export
petroleum, coal, bananas, cut flowers and
emeralds.
Colombia
produces coca, opium poppy, cannabis and
heroin, and supplies about 90% of the
cocaine to the US markets; although there
has been an active aerial eradication
program, and a 15% decline of coca since
2001.
A
forty-year insurgent campaign to overthrow
the Colombian government escalated during
the 1990s, in part funded from the drug
trade. Although violence is deadly and
large parts of the countryside are under
guerilla influence, the movement lacks the
military strength to overthrow the
government. We were stopped by
soldiers on our way down to Tierra Caliente
who asked for our passports and told us to
be careful of the "guerilleros,"
but we did not know what they looked like.
When I think of all the risks I have taken,
I wonder that I am still alive.
However, my adventures give me a lot of
background for my novels. That is why
writing romantic adventures is easy for me.
On
our return flight, once seat belted in our
chairs, my husband grabbed both his arm
rests as his knuckles turned white,
nervously saying: "this is taking too long
a time to get off the runway. We have
been on a take-off roll for over a minute
and it is about time he got airborne.
This pilot doesn't have enough power to get
up in the air, and we are going to run out
of runway and crash into those
mountains." I smiled, enjoying my
glass of red wine, flashing my new emerald
ring, thinking if I die now, I die happy, so
what's to worry about? I guess
ignorance is bliss!
Alinka Zyrmont
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